UT trainer "couldn’t clear" McCoy to return

AUSTIN — Texas quarterback Colt McCoy was not cleared by the team’s training staff to return to the Bowl Championship Series title game after suffering a nerve injury in the first quarter Thursday, UT trainer said in a statement released Saturday.

McCoy was hit in the shoulder on the Longhorns’ fifth offensive snap of their 37-21 loss to Alabama and did not return.

“Colt sustained a nerve injury involving his right (throwing) shoulder

that prevented him from returning to the game,” Boyd’s statement read. “The injury caused numbness and weakness in his arm that prevented him from throwing with the strength or accuracy he needed. He wanted to go back into the game but with the weakness he was having in the shoulder, we couldn’t clear him to do that.

“The weakness in his shoulder also put him at risk of greater injury. From the time of the injury, we were continually treating and re-evaluating him but he wasn’t able to regain the strength he needed to get back on the field.”